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Show National College Enrollment on the Rise Again Thanks to record numbers of (CPS) community college and part-tim- e students, national college enrollment apparently has risen again. For the 10th straight year, nationwide college enrollment has defied predictions of a decline, and has emerged from the 1980s a decade which was supposed to see a precipitous drop in the numbers of college students and bring on the closure of some 200 campuses higher than ever, two new students censuses show. Its fascinating that higher education is at an e high this year, observed of the American Council Elaine on Education (ACE), which found in a survey of 17 states that campus populations grew 1 percent to 4 percent over last years. Those who were cautious (in their predictions) are surprised, she said. all-tim- as While the final nationwide head count wont be out until February, ACEs number indicate that as many as 12.5 million students may be attending classes on the countrys campuses this year. The U.S. Dept, of Education, the federal agency that administers most federal college programs and that keeps the official count of the student population, last summer predicted about 12.2 million students would enroll this year," a 1 percent growth over 1988-8- 9. The growth caps a decade of steady Different kinds of students, moreover, two-yeare registering at the schools, growth that, according to demographers observers agree. was predictions since the James Palmer of the Center for supposed to be a decade ofcrisis in American Community College Education, which is higher education. based at George Mason University in Citing the decrease in the number of said the where that Virginia, colleges people who would turn during growth during the 1980s was driven by an the eighties, observers forecast nationwide influx of older, part-tim- e students, this enrollment would plummet, leaving dorms school more high year grads are enrolling and classrooms nearly empty and hundreds to attend classes r of small , private colleges too broke two-yecollege to stay open. Many of the new In late December, however, the College students ordinarily would have chosen to four-yeto education colleges. Board, a New go AACJ C President Dale Parnell agreed. association, found that undergraduate We are hearing from our colleges that an enrollment actually increased 8 percent school number between 1980 and 1988. ofhigh graduates increasing are enrolling in community, technical and Colleges have managed to sustain considerable increases in their overall junior colleges. Some of the increases are huge. At undergraduate enrollment despite only a Pellissippi State Community College in slight increase of 0.5 percent in overall Tennessee, the number of students has freshman enrollment, said Jean Marzone skyrocketed by 44 percent, to 4,702 of the College Board. Marzone said the reason was thatmore students, in just one year. Delgado Louisiana in students registered during the Community College reports a part-tim- e record 24 percent enrollment jump. decade. In her report, Summary Stati sties: Yet such growth can cause problems Annual she Survey of Colleges for students. Were pushed to the limit, noted that nationwide enrollment barely saidBlaine Nisson, student services director would have changed since 1980 without the n at Community College in influx of Oregon. Weve hadalotof problems serving e enrollment grew by only 1.8 students. e part-timenrollment jumped but LBCCs enrollment has grown by 20 percent, 17.3 percent, the report says. percent during the past two years, Nisson ACEs added that a greater reports. school seniors opted to ofhigh Four-yea- r campus enrollment also rose .percentage this year, though not as significantly, the go to college instead of entering the job market after graduation. ACE discovered. The actual number of (high school) Boise State Universitys enrollment, for example, jumped by 7.1 percent to 12,586 graduates has decreased, she said, but, of students. The University of Arizona also those, more are going to college. Its a matter of the economy. Industries reported a large enrollment increase up 1988-85.5 percent of 35,647 from the are hiring fewer people right out ofhigh school year. said. school, ar mid-seventie- full-tim- e. s, four-yea- ar r and community colleges seem to be eryoying the biggest boom. About 5.5 million students are taking community college classes, an increase of 5.7 percent over last year, the American Association of Community and Junior d Colleges (AACJC), a Washington, said. group Two-yea- D.C.-base- SLIGHTLY OFF CAMPUS York-base- d ar 1989-1990- -C- PS-An Alarming Strip Show Linn-Bento- part-timer- a University of Califomia-Riversid- e dorm in late November when a woman dancing a steamy striptease in a lounge inadvertently set off the buildings fire alarm. The alarm was triggered by a smoke machine the stripper, who was hired by male RAs evacuated residents of hall residents as a response to female residents hiring of a male stripper earlier in the term, was using in her act. Primal Screams In Psych Class introductory psychology class at the University of Toronto when abruptly was disrupted many students, heeding to a cue given them at 12:25 p.m. Nov. on 21, began shouting as loudly as they could. Students said they had been organized by a classmate who had seen a Molson beer ad in the Varsity, the campus paper, urging readers to scream (a Molson slogan) out at the top of your lungs during a psychology lecture. Prof. Katherine Covell was particularly upset by the incident because the big class has been difficult to control all year. The first day (of the term), she told the Canadian University Press, everyone was doing the wave. A huge, 1600-stude- nt Degrees, Degrees Everywhere, But Not A Diploma In Sight Tampa, Fla., bad check writer Jeanne Brooks, 32, was sentenced to the maximum 15 years in prison when Judge Susan Bucklew discovered Brooks plea for leniency in which she had cited a sterling record as a scholar and a teacher included entirely false claims that Brooks had degrees from both Holy Cross and Georgetown universities. But Will They Take Him To Jail In A Tow Truck? as 9 as Jr. Colleges Fail Students (CPS) Community colleges arent doing their job of helping disadvantaged students start a college education and r transfer to campuses for bachelors a degrees, damning new University of Michigan study of college transfer students claims. The study found that most of the students who do transfer from two-yeto four-yecampuses had the grades to start r school directly out of high at a four-yea- ar ar ar four-yea- school. Relatively few of the students who enrolled at two-yeschools because they had poor high school grades end up transferring to B.A. programs, Michigan researchers Valerie Lee and Kenneth Frank found in their study. As a result, they concluded, two-yeschools are not helping disadvantaged students earn bachelors degrees and thus escape poverty. While broader access to two-yeinstitutions may appear to increase ar ar Madison, Wis., police arrested a man in late December they say has spent the last at campus libraries at Illinois State University Wisconsin-Madison and the universities of and Illinois at ChampaignUrbana. The unnamed suspect reportedly struck when studiers absently would kick off their shoes under tables or get up to get a drink of water. Police found 80 pairs of shoes in the mans apartment. five years stealing shoes from people And Then Theres The One About The Yalie With A Sense of Humor Utterly bamboozled when Cornell pranksters, intent on puncturing a little Yale pomposity, stole into New Haven in the dead of night, intercepted copies of the Yale Daily News rolling off the presses and replaced them in student mailboxes with parody issues of the Yale paper, Yale Managing Editor Andrew Wexton graciously the rivalry. I mean said, For some reason Cornell imagines theres a Cornell-Yal- e Cornell Daily Sun who the hell are they? NOTES: Washington State actually has an endowed chair for a Taco Bell Distinguished Professor . . . The University of Cincinnatis law school reportedly keeps Play-Do- h in a library reading room to relieve (students) tension and stress . . . In a e new book about the history of the pencil, Duke Prof. Henry Petroski claims one pencil can draw a line up to 70 miles long ... At Kirkwood Community College in Iowa, students say theyre still waiting for administrators to respond to a petition to Horse Science building. finally construct a bathroom in the 450-pag- ar educational opportunities January 23, 1990 for disadvantaged students, its the more advanced students with better academic preparation in high school who make up the 25 percent who actually transfer to four-yecolleges, said Lee, an assistant professor of education. This suggests that the community college experience may actually perpetuate rather than ameliorate social stratification in higher education. ar Community college officials vehemently disputed the report, saying Lee and Frank didnt look at their schools overall mission. Some university researchers tend to look at community college success only by school s, but thats transfer rates to four-year Issue 13 s. Full-tim- two-ye- The state of Missouri has shut down an accrediting agency that apparently would approve any college that had a building, people and $860 to pay for an accreditation certificate. Toinvestigate the International Commission for Schools, Colleges and Theological Seminaries, run by a husband-and-wif- e team, state Asst. Attorney General Erich Vieth set up a bogus Eastern Missouri Business College, had the agency review the qualifications of a faculty list that included the name of the pig from the TV show Green Acres, and won full accreditation. ," only one part of our mission, said Harold Heiner, president of Whatcom Community College in Bellingham, Washington. Whatcoms programs include adult high school, vocational training and classes for immigrants preparing for United States citizenship. If you teach somebody to read, and then they get a job, that changes the social stratification, Heiner said. We all disagree with the study because focuses it totally on transfer students, said Don Foster, an admi ni strator at Waubon see Community College in Sugar Grove, HI. Dale Parnell, presidentof the American Association of Community and Junior Colleges, said, For an awful lot of disadvantaged students, were their only hope. We offer more doors of opportunity for disadvantaged students. d Parnell said only of the students who enter community college ever plan to transfer. I get a little tired of university professors always trying to measure us against their arbitrary standards, he said. The average age of our students is 29, of theyre working people and them are part-tim- e people. Community college administrators are overreacting, Lee said. The fact of the matter is (that) a good number of students do transfer. All I am saying is that most of those who transfer were qualified to attend a r college one-thir- two-thir- ds four-yea- right out ofhigh school. Obviously they didnt read the report. Im perfectly willing to discuss the study, but it distresses me that they are drawing conclusions from press releases, Lee said. Forum Page 5 |